


like children waiting

by blazeofglory



Category: X-Men (Movies), X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, Character Study, M/M, Post Beach Divorce
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-06
Updated: 2016-03-06
Packaged: 2018-05-25 03:38:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 355
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6178789
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blazeofglory/pseuds/blazeofglory
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes, Charles saw glimpses of what he thought might be the future.</p>
            </blockquote>





	like children waiting

Even after everything, Charles never considered “having visions” as part of his powers. It was never something that he was _sure_ was really happening—not something he could control, or even understand. But sometimes, when he caught glimpses of the unfamiliar, he thought he might be seeing the future. 

It wasn’t until he was very, very old and those visions had never come true, that he knew he had never seen the future.

Some other life, perhaps.

The worst—the absolute _worst_ —was _that_ day. The sun was beating unbearably hot overhead, and thousands of voices were screaming in his head, and he felt a pain like no pain he’d ever felt before because he’d never been _shot_ before. And Erik was holding him, and yelling and—and through the pain and the screaming and panic, Erik’s skin touched Charles’, and suddenly he was seeing things.

It was over in seconds, but— 

He saw Erik’s smile, soft and sleepy. He saw a house full of children, all looking up to him, but—no, not just him. Erik too; Erik always by his side. He saw a rumpled bed big enough for two; he saw a cat winding between Erik’s legs. He saw Raven in the background, blue and smiling and beautiful. Then for one long, lingering moment… he didn’t see it, but he had a vivid sensory feeling of a kiss. _Erik’s_ kiss.

He blinked, and the vision of whatever the hell that had been was gone. Charles told Erik that this was his fault. 

Erik left. 

Charles never mentioned the visions to anyone, but when he mourned the loss of Erik and Raven and his dreams and his legs, he mourned that future-that-could-have-been too. He had been so _sure_ what he was seeing had been the future, which had made it even harder to fight Erik again and _again_. But then, old and gray and a million years later—he mourned again, for that other life that never could have come true.

It had never been the future, after all. Maybe not even another life-- maybe it had been a fever dream all along. 

**Author's Note:**

> It's a little sad that this has been my favorite movie and my favorite OTP for five years now, and yet this is the first fic I've published about them (though I wrote dozens back in the day). I'm not even sure if this makes sense, but "Mad World" was on and I was feeling emotional about Charles, so this happened.


End file.
